The Truant Officer
To have and to hold from this day forward...
Darren McLaughlin thinks he's having a nightmare as he watches his wife, Lilly, being abducted from a gas station in Chandler, Arizona. Things then go from bad to worse, when it's revealed that her captor is one of the students she taught at a local high school.
For better or worse...
In Manhattan, US Attorney Aaron Eicher cringes upon learning the identity of the man who abducted Lilly McLaughlin. Nick was the one thing holding his case together against the son of Russian crime boss, Viktor Sarvydas—but now his star witness was on the run, and in mortal danger. It is just the latest surprise in a case that went against everything he'd learned in school—when it came to the Russian Mafya 1+1=3.
In sickness and in health...
Seeking refuge in Israel, fleeing the fallout of his son's arrest, Viktor Sarvydas smiles when he learns the news about Nick. He knows that it's now just a matter of time before he comes face to face with the man who was going to testify against his son.
With the FBI, media, and dueling Russian assassins in a cross-country race to get to Nick and Lilly, it becomes clear that the only one who can truly save them is Darren. Will he get to them first, or will...death do us part?
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The Truant Officer is really a modern day "chase" book. But instead of being a race across a state or a region, it is across the globe. It begins on page one, when a school teacher named Lilly McLaughlin is abducted from an Arizona gas station, and ends across the Atlantic - all in a matter of days! Different from The Trials of Max Q (and for the most part, Painless) which predominantly follow a small group of characters, The Truant Officer jumps between numerous characters. I was concerned that this would make readers seasick, but those who've read it have found it to be the opposite, finding the style preferable, and reminded me that it's about whether readers find the characters compelling and interesting, and not the number.
A big theme of the book is the idea of wedding vows - how far will Darren McLaughlin go to obey the ones he took, even when they are tested to the nth degree. In doing so, he morphs from a willing victim to the aggressor...but will that be enough to save his wife, and his marriage? The book also goes to a place of horror that only Stephen King could dream it up - the world of teenagers and high school circa 2011 (-:
The "bad guys" of The Truant Officer centers around the Russian Mafiya, also known as the Red Mafiya. I didn't know much about them, but when I read a quote in a (nonfiction) book by an FBI agent who was discussing the group's infiltration into America, which went something like: At least the Italian mafia has an etiquette, the Russians will shoot you just to see if their gun works, I was like - these are my kinda villains! The only problem was the more I researched these great real life characters (by great, I mean in the way that Hannibal Lecter a great character) the fictional characters I created would have to be much toned-down versions. They were that far over the top!
I will now shut up and let you read the book, and make up your own mind. Happy reading!
